Since Franco’s departure, pop and rock music in Spain have flourished exponentially. Notably, bands that feature British or American sounds began thriving.
Rosalia Vila Tobella, more popularly known by her initials R.T, is one of Spain’s foremost contemporary artists in contemporary music. As an innovator of her genre she has received widespread acclaim.
Jose Carreras
Carreras had an outstanding career from 1964-1987. Singing lead tenor roles in 24 operas and giving recitals at some of the greatest venues worldwide–Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York; Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Hall and the Royal Albert Hall in London; Salle Pleyel of Paris; Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna; Hercules Saal Munich Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg as well as Rome’s Academia Santa Cecilia–where his lyrical tones flourished at its finest during these decades of his success.
Born in Barcelona, Spain, Jose Carreras displayed early aptitude for music and singing; this passion intensified after watching Mario Lanza in The Great Caruso film. Soon thereafter he started singing arias from Rigoletto nonstop to his family; eventually convincing both parents and grandfather, an amateur baritone, to fund music lessons for him. Jose also founded the Jose Carreras International Leukemia Foundation to assist leukemia research efforts as well as bone marrow donation initiatives.
Miguel Rios
Miguel Rios Campana was born in Granada, Spain. At 15 he began working in a bar where he and some friends would compete against one another by entering radio contests singing Paul Anka’s ‘You Are My Destiny’ together and winning. Thus began Miguel Rios Campana’s musical career; quickly becoming known as the King of Twist.
Rios released his live double album Rock and Rios, widely considered to be among the most significant works of Spanish rock at that time. Coinciding with his tour, this release served as a cultural marker that marked Spain’s transition towards democracy which had only just come into being six years earlier.
His latest album Running Blue was recorded with acclaimed producer Craig Pilkington in 2014. Its unique mix of alt-folk narratives and upbeat bluesy outings combines to form a compelling soundscape, highlighted by sublime guitar work that underpins rich vocals reminiscent of Leonard Cohen. Inspired by rural Victoria’s tall eucalypts and soft light sources, Running Blue’s songs ring true with imagery.
Maria del Mar Bonet
Maria del Mar Bonet created the first record in Catalan language with folksongs from Mallorca in 1968, playing concerts throughout Spain. In 1998 she collaborated with artists like Amancio Prada on his CD Roses Rosalieia; Loquillo on their album Con Elegancia and Jordi Sabates and Rosa Verges for an audiovisual project featuring Jackson Browne songs.
At the end of that same year, she traveled to Argentina and presented her music in various cities there. Within one year, she went on a Moroccan tour consisting of five concerts with Zulfu Livanelli sharing the stage.
In 1995 she launches the Salmaia world tour with concerts in Turkey, Holland and Germany as well as taking part in a tribute concert for Guillem d’Efak with Lluis Llach, Joan Manuel Serrat and Nena Venetsanou.
In 2010, she released an album entitled Jardi Tancat with Lautaro Rosas and Javier Mas, receiving excellent feedback from audiences worldwide. Attracted by new artistic forms, she collaborated with choreographer Nacho Duato to present Show Arenal.
Eliseo Parra
Eliseo Parra understands the value of music to human life and has studied it extensively throughout his ten-year ethnomusicological research career. Through this endeavor he discovered people’s need for accompanying their daily activities with songs; common folk singing oral tradition across generations create a vast body of works dedicated to lullabies, children’s games, work songs, courtship, military service, weddings and laments/dance tunes for various occasions – as well as laments/dance tunes.
Parra was unlike many of his peers who traversed popular culture from riverbank to sea via English-language releases and chart success; instead he pursued traditional sounds from all regions of Spain while mixing them with jazz, rock and Caribbean rhythms.
His catalogue boasts impressive physical single sales, while albums (such as Tribus Hispanas) from him are considered classics by a new generation of folk fans. His music shows that there will still be an audience for music 400 years from now.